New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of senior advocate R K Anand in BMW hit-and-run expose case, saying his punishment will increase.
The Delhi High Court had earlier stripped Anand of his senior advocate designation and barred him from attending to cases in any court across India for four months.
He was accused of collusion between the prosecution and the defence and attempting to influence the key witness in the case.
The apex court said that no case of contempt of court is made out against advocate I U Khan but his conduct was "inappropriate" as Special Public Prosecutor in the case.
Khan, and counsel Anand, were on August 21 2008, convicted by the Delhi High Court for trying to influence witness Kulkarni, a scandal exposed through the sting operation by the TV channel.
The two senior advocates were convicted for obstructing administration of justice and were barred from practicing in any court for four months.
A three-judge Bench of Justices B N Agrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam also observed that a sting operation by done by a TV news channel – that exposed an alleged nexus between the witness and the defence lawyer – was in public interest and cannot be termed as a case of trial by media.
WHAT HC SAID
On August 21, 2008, the Delhi High Court convicted senior Anand and Khan in the BMW expose case for obstructing administration of justice after a sting operation by a television channel alleged collusion between the prosecution and the defence.
Anand, who was defending key accused Sanjeev Nanda in the BMW case, began his legal career at the Tis Hazari Court in Delhi as a civil lawyer in the 1960s.
A Division Bench headed by Justices Manmohan Sarin and Madan B Lokur debarred Anand and Khan from appearing in court for next four months.
"They are senior advocates and they did not tender either a conditional or an unconditional apology for their conduct in the BMW case," the Division Bench judges said in their 112-page verdict in the contempt case relating to the expose.
The Bench also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each of them and rapped them for their "irresponsible" behaviour, saying "we are not dealing with young lawyers. Both are seasoned lawyers and such conduct was not expected of them."
WHO IS ANAND
In 1976, he was appointed Government counsel but the turning point came in 1980 when he represented the late Indira Gandhi on a property litigation filed by her daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi after Sanjay Gandhi's death.
In 2000 the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha nominated him to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. He also contested on a Congress ticket from South Delhi in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls but lost.
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